


Pillars

by Bazylia_de_Grean



Series: If Thou Art Broken [1]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen, PoE Inktober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 22:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16773766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bazylia_de_Grean/pseuds/Bazylia_de_Grean
Summary: Eira's journey through faith, and her musings on Rymrgand, Ondra and Eothas.





	1. Depths

**Author's Note:**

> (PoE Inktober, prompt 8: Depths)

Rymrgand is _wide_ – a blizzard without beginning or end, stretching out beyond the horizon. Surrounding, but not encompassing; a devourer, not a predator but a scavenger, following patiently until all life seeps out of his faithful and they pay the tribute, the only one he considers worthy.

Ondra is _deep_ – a bottomless ocean, a vastness of water where one can get lost and forgotten – but it is _welcoming_ , reaches out with its countless waves like with arms, it _craves_ and _rages_ and _crushes_ and _suffocates_ but afterwards it _cradles_. The ocean is _alive_ , unlike the desolate realm of the Beast of Winter. It might not understand the struggles of mortals, but mirrors them, at least; it tries.

That is why Eira steps into the icy water at the shore and lets it wash away her sorrows and drown them. When she walks out onto the land again, shivering with cold, she is laughing, even if her smile is somewhat feeble because her teeth are chattering. Ondra saw her, embraced her with waves, like a mother would, accepted everything Eira brought to her without question.

The ocean is _deep_ , as all tales claim love should be. This, Eira can believe in.


	2. Pillars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (PoE Inktober, prompt 1: Pillars)

When Eira first learns about Eothas – from a travelling priest, on a ship somewhere between Deadfire and Ixamitl – she is bewildered. What he says is very different from how she was taught to understand faith, and from what she discovered on her own.

Back home, in the Land, she learnt that Rymrgand takes all, offering peace in return. And yet little Eira – _young_ , but it seems that was ages ago – could not understand how there would be peace without sparkling snow on a sunny day, without a warm fire and tales in the evening. What the Best of Winter offers is void, not peace; not even emptiness, just _lack_ of everything. On the day she fully understood that, she stopped praying to Rymrgand.

When she started wandering and came to the coast, she found Ondra in the ocean waves. Ondra takes memories, but gives the comfort of oblivion; a fair trade. That is the kind of exchange a child of the Land could understand easily. Ondra took away her resentment towards Rymrgand, soothed her fears like a mother would have, and Eira gratefully accepted that blessing.

But Eothas… He is doing things the other way round; first he _offers_ – compassion and redemption – and then he asks his believers to _give_. But not to him – to others. To grant forgiveness, to give a second chance. To see the potential for good in kith, to give them the benefit of a doubt.

The others gods have clear rules. They have demands, but once you meet them, they offer certainty in return. Keep your oaths, and Woedica will not punish you. Give Ondra memories, and she will take the pain away. But Eothas asks for something else altogether.

Eira finds it incredibly puzzling that the pillar of the Eothasian _faith_ is just _believing_.


	3. Belong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (PoE Inktober, prompt 4: Belong)

“Been a long way, hasn’t it?” Edér asks, refilling his pipe.

“Yes.” Eira looks down at the courtyard – the chapel, the little shop, the outlines of Brighthollow, the lush green garden – and a warm feeling blooms in her chest. Like a fireplace on a cold night in the Land, but brighter. “You know, I spent years wondering what was that voice like adra chimes, speaking to me in dreams. At first, I thought it was Ondra.” She puts her hands on the stone, feels the history of Caed Nua flowing through her soul. “But it was Eothas, guiding me home.”


End file.
